N.C. State held its media day Monday.

Here are more notes from the interviews with coach Tom O'Brien and players:

・With Nate Irving out indefinitely because of injuries from a June 28 car crash, senior Ray Michel has emerged as a team leader among the linebackers.

N.C. State senior running back Toney Baker performed better during Sunday night’s scrimmage than at any time during spring practice, coach Tom O’Brien said Monday during his media day news conference.

Baker is returning after missing almost all of the last two seasons because of a knee injury.
“He ran (Sunday) night with a little bit of burst and a little bit of power that we hadn’t seen in the spring,” O’Brien said.

N.C. State linebacker Nate Irving will meet with a doctor Thursday to learn more about the status of his broken leg, coach Tom O’Brien said Monday during the team’s media day news conference.

Irving also suffered a broken rib and collapsed lung in a June 28 car crash. He has seen doctors to have those injuries evaluated, and the leg injury is what’s left to be examined.

The play of N.C. State’s specialists – for better and for worse – was the most eye-opening development of the Wolfpack’s first scrimmage Sunday.

Entering preseason camp, coach Tom O’Brien listed punter as one of the team’s biggest concerns. The staff hoped freshman Chris Ward of Fayetteville, Ga., would be able to challenge junior Jeff Ruiz for the job vacated by 2008 senior Bradley Pierson.

In his first scrimmage, Ward punted twice for a total of 97 yards, an outstanding effort by any account.

The biggest question in North Carolina during preseason practice isn't who's going to catch the ball for the Tar Heels.
It's not whether Duke can reach a bowl game, or who is going to replace Nate Irving at N.C. State.

With junior Nate Irving out indefinitely, N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien has moved linebacker Terrell Manning from the "field" position to the "boundary" position.

That's the position Irving played before he suffered a broken leg, broken rib and a collapsed lung in a car crash in June. Sophomore Dwayne Maddox, who backed up Irving last season, entered preseason camp with the first shot at replacing Irving.

Safety Jimmaul Simmons has left N.C. State's team and is withdrawing from school, coach Tom O'Brien said Monday.

Defensive end A.J. Ferguson, who would have been a freshman, also won't be with the team in the fall, O'Brien said.

Aside from those two personnel nuggets, little news came out of N.C. State's first practice session Monday.

Seniors Jamelle Eugene, Jeraill McCuller and Willie Young have been elected team captains by N.C. State's players, the school announced Monday.

The team elected captains during a meeting Sunday night. Practice begins shortly after 5 p.m. today.

GREENSBORO — Linebacker Nate Irving's key doctor appointment isn't scheduled until mid-August, but the N.C. State coaching staff has had to develop a contingency plan for his absence.

Coach Tom O'Brien revealed on Monday that Irving's broken leg was a compound fracture, and that his collapsed lung came as a result of being pierced by a broken rib in a car crash in late June. These are serious injuries that will take time to overcome, even though O'Brien has deemed Irving's football status as "out indefinitely" until he knows the results of the August appointment.

GREENSBORO — N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien wasn't happy to see the Wolfpack's game with rival North Carolina scheduled for the last week of the 2009 season.

"I think it's a dumb game to play at that time of the year, because you're crossing divisions," O'Brien said Monday at the ACC media kickoff.